I was very happy to read Bolton's statements in Jeff Kuhner's commentary. However, I think Bolton is punting the issue by simply saying that there is no accountability. The question is why is there no accountability? It's because the US has failed to taken any actions to make it so. This is an argument we have made to the State Department for several years. They seem to finally be "getting it," but their not quite there yet. Below is a letter to the editor I sent in concerning the commentary.

John Kraljic

To the Editor of The Washington Times

One must applaud John Bolton's criticism of the lack of "democratic accountability" of the International Criminal Tribunal for War Crimes for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and its current prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte. One has to ask, though, why Mr. Bolton and the State Department have not taken any actions to reign in the ICTY.

Both the ICTY and the Prosecutor are ultimately responsible to the UN Security Council. The United States has failed to use its membership status in the Council to put in place any meaningful oversight of the activities of the ICTY and the Prosecutor.

The critical issue today is not whether prosecutions will be turned over the national courts in former Yugoslavia - that has been the stated policy goal for several years. The question is what the State Department will do concerning the continued work of the ICTY and the Prosecutor with respect to its current docket of cases, especially with respect to the politically motivated indictment brought against Croatian General Ante Gotovina.